How the Dodgers’ bullpen dug deep and won Game 3 of the World Series

Most of the Dodgers rushed to home plate to wait for Freddie Freeman, who was coming around the bases after hitting another World Series home run.

Shohei Ohtani had another destination.

With his left arm wrapped around Roki Sasaki, Ohtani ran toward his team’s bullpen, from which Yoshinobu Yamamoto emerged. When Yamamoto intercepted his two compatriots in left field, Ohtani pulled him with his free arm. Joined by their interpreters, the players hugged each other in celebration, jumping up and down.

How appropriate.

From left, Yoshihiro Sonoda, Will Ireton, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani and Roki Sasaki embrace and celebrate in left field after the Dodgers won Game 3 of the World Series in 18 innings Monday night.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Freeman’s 18th-inning blast in the 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays spared Yamamoto from making an emergency relief appearance just two days after pitching a complete game, but there was something heroic about his warmup nonetheless, as the only alternative to him scaling the mound in the next inning would have been for a position player to do so.

This self-sacrificing sprint is what brought the Dodgers victory in Game 3 of the World Series. That courage to push known limits is why they now have a two-game-to-one advantage in the best-of-seven series.

Nine Dodgers relievers followed starter Tyler Glasnow in the 6-hour, 39-minute marathon, and five of them pitched more than one inning.

Sasaki provided 1 ⅔ of a scoreless inning, but the real heroes of this night were the unexpected contributors.

There was Justin Wrobleski, who pitched a scoreless sixth inning and recorded the first two outs of the seventh. There were Emmet Sheehan and Edgardo Henriquez, who pitched 2 ⅔ and two scoreless innings, respectively.

Most importantly, there was Will Klein, a powerful pitching journeyman on his third team This year.

Klein pitched the final four innings of the game without allowing a run. He threw 72 pitches, just seven fewer than Blue Jays starter Max Scherzer.

“It starts with Will Klein,” Clayton Kershaw said. “I think what he did tonight, above and beyond, beyond what you can expect from someone.”

Klein began the year with the Oakland Athletics, who traded him to the Seattle Mariners. He spent the first part of the season with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate, after which he was traded to the Dodgers, who moved him back and forth between the majors and the minors. Klein did not make the Dodgers’ roster in any of the previous three rounds of the postseason.

When Roberts called him out of the bullpen Monday in the 15th inning, he was literally the last resort. But one scoreless inning became two, and two became three, and three became four.

“I started to feel it, and there were times where, like, you start to feel down and you feel like your legs aren’t there or your arm isn’t there,” Klein said. “You just have to ask yourself: Who else is going to come and save me? So I dig deep, I do it myself.”

Yamamoto was ready to take over.

When Kershaw entered the game with the bases loaded to record the final out in the 12th inning and preserve the temporary 5-5 deadlock, Yamamoto realized that only two relievers remained: Henriquez and Klein.

Yamamoto told pitching coach Mark Prior and manager Dave Roberts that he could pitch. Initially, he was certain that Roberts would not accept his offer. However, when the situation seemed inevitable, they decided he should start warming up while communicating with the coaches about how he was feeling.

Yamamoto said he thinks back to when he was a 19-year-old rookie with the Orix Buffaloes of the Japanese league. At the time, he couldn’t pitch for 10 days after he started.

He spoke about the years he spent working with personal trainer Osamu Yada.

“I now have a body capable of pitching a complete game in the World Series and pitching again two days later,” Yamamoto said.

Half-joking, Yamamoto said with a smile, “I think I was able to prove what an incredible man Osamu Yada is.”

In the 18th inning, Yamamoto was pitching to the bullpen. He would have replaced Klein in the 19th inning, but he joked, “I was saved by the home run.”

Because he was throwing, Yamamoto said he didn’t see Freeman’s swing. He only saw the ball go over the center field wall.

Kershaw was moved by Yamamoto’s commitment. Yamamoto is still expected to start Game 6 on Friday in Toronto, if necessary.

“It’s amazing,” Kershaw said. “He just threw a complete game two days ago, traveled across the country, got there at four in the morning (Sunday), basically rested a day, and came out and said he could pitch. Sometimes that’s what you need to win a World Series and we have a lot of guys willing to sacrifice to do that.”

Reserve infielder Miguel Rojas said what Yamamoto did could bring the team closer together.

As it stands, the bullpen has come together following the absence of Alex Vesia, who is not with the team because he and his wife are dealing with what is described as “a deeply personal family matter.” Monday night, relievers wore caps with Vesia’s number 51 sewn on the sides.

“Just something we talked about,” Kershaw said. “I’m new to the bullpen, but Ves, he means a lot to all of us. He was a big part of this team, a big part of this bullpen, so we just want to do something to honor him.”